Exporting leadership talent: challenges and opportunities in MNC subsidiaries in India

The purpose of this paper is to advocate an approach to leadership development to support the increasing trend of India‐based executives of multinational companies' (MNC) subsidiaries taking on global roles.

The paper defines distinctive competencies and recommends the alignment of individual development to the organization's evolution.

This approach enables leadership development efforts in MNC subsidiaries to focus on building a pipeline of leadership talent for the global organization.

The paper demonstrates that cultural intelligence, result orientation and thought leadership – the distinctive competencies required for a global career – can be built effectively on job opportunities that India‐based MNC subsidiaries provide.